When Your Baby Meets Your New Baby | 25 Images of Children Meeting Their Siblings | Cape Town Birth Photographer

November 21, 2017

Elizabeth Stone once said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” This becomes multiplied when you decide to have two, three, four, or more pieces of your heart walking around.

The decision to have siblings changes a family dynamic in ways that aren’t known until history unfolds. I love capturing their DAY ONE of this unique and mysterious bond. This bond is one that is to share parents and be bound to a person in that love either by blood or adoption or blended families.

As a photographer, I have seen the variety of reactions. From disinterest to elation to tears to jealousy. Neither is right or wrong, they are just initial feelings. They are honest and that honesty translates into the photos.

Enjoy 25 of my favorite images (that I can share) from my collection of documenting children on the day they meet their siblings.

1| YOU’RE A BIG GIRL NOW

She looks back at her mother as if to acknowledge she knows what this means.

Her status has upgraded to big sister.

2| THREE MEN AND THEIR LITTLE LADY

They welcome their newest with a tenderness and awe befitting a princess.

3| FIRST TIMID TOUCH

The subtleties of her knuckles and fingernails tell the story of how she’s trying to be careful. As careful as a two-year-old can be.

4| LOVE AT FIRST GLIMPSE

Not a second passed that curtain and her endearment to him is clear. I’m so glad that I chose a pullback composition for this image.

5| WHEN TWO ANGELS MEET

The angel wings with the pacifier. Kills me every time.

6| ANTICIPATION

She runs balloon in hand (from the hospital gift shop) to her mother who she hasn’t seen in days. This beautiful reunion before the meeting of her brother is priceless.

7| DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION

He’s all dressed up with his bowtie for this special occasion.

8| FEELING ALL GROWN UP

Those lips give away the sense of “I got this”. You can practically see her pre-maternal skills shining through.

9| FIRST EMBRACE

There is this instinctual feeling in all of us to “hug a baby” but their size sometimes makes that problematic. I loved this quiet moment as her big sister pulls her into an embrace.

10| WHEN CAN WE PLAY?

Still some time to go before playing can happen, but she’s ready for it right away.

11| THE LOOK IN HER EYES

I don’t pose my clients or direct them during Meet The Family Sessions. So sometimes they don’t land where I would have positioned them. But you work with how the scene unfolds. In this case, the backlighting across her face brought the attention right to her expression.

12| LOOKS JUST LIKE MY NEW BABY BROTHER

As the family pours in to meet her sibling, she’s making the connection that this is all about a baby. Note the play crib behind her.

13| WIDE-EYED FASCINATION

Babyworn herself by her dad, her eyes tell the story of fascination at this new little being. The half finger pointing, half asking cracks me up. So many questions, so few words.

14| OUR BABIES MEET

I’ve never witnessed a more tender family moment when siblings met like this one. Both parents burst into mouth covered tears at their son’s realization that he has a brother. At one point later I crouched down up under that skin to capture tighter shots without distracting their son. See image #21

15| THE LITTLE MIDWIFE

She’s minutes away from seeing her sister born. Her instincts to support and hold that space with her mother rise to the occasion.

16| IT’S A BABY!

She’s basically still a baby herself, but she gets it. It’s a baby! They say children don’t know. I’m not convinced. I think children are far more intuitive than we give them credit for.

17| THE BOND

While everyone oohs and ahhs over the new baby, a quiet moment where she remembers to check in with her mother.

18| THE SHARED JOY OF SOMEONE NEW

The tender and unconscious cheek against her shoulder with the grin.

19| FUTURE PLANS

Her mother wrote her a letter “in the words of the new baby” and dad reads it out loud while she takes it all in. They have so much to do on their childhood bucket list.

20| SOON TO BE TEENAGER & TODDLER

Can you see it? Blink and it will be there. Soon to be a teenager and a toddler.

21| TOE-TALLY ENAMOURED

This is the shot I crouched under the sink for (mentioned in image #14). So I could get around the hospital bed footboard. He sees toes pop out and the grin is too much.

22| THE DUO BECOME A TRIO

In this moment, a sisterhood is formed.

23| HER LEGACY LIVES ON

She looks on from the moment above (Image #22) and sees her three babies all together. To have an image like this of your mother in 50-60 years, what a treasure.

24| IN AWE

For a generation of children growing up with selfies and camera-aware, it is wondrous to behold them lost in a moment and uncaring of the camera.

25| THE LOVE LANGUAGE OF HANDMADE CARDS

You know you have a sibling that’s learning to write when this is your very first birth day card. #FrameWorthy

Maybe its not your time to book me yet, but sign up so that when it's your turn, you know where to find me. I send out an exclusive newsletter that's not spammy in the least!